More than Magic: Semester Aboard (26 page)

"Oh." I looked at them curiously. I assumed
his ashes comment was about Thomas being turned, but wasn't sure
what Dani could possibly have experienced that would compare to
that. Then again, I was Dani's age and my life hadn't always been
picture perfect. Tragedy didn't care how old you were. Although I
was surprised that Dani and Thomas would be as close as Charlie
said they were with so many years between them. Could Thomas really
be close friends with someone so much younger? "And the age
difference isn't a problem?"

"No way. Age is just a number. It's only a
problem if you let it be."

That made sense. Thomas wouldn't have to hang
around college students if it
really
bothered him. In fact,
not making age into a problem applied to me too. I was the one
worrying about how Thomas felt being so much older than us. It
hadn't been an issue before I found out and I would never have
guessed on my own. Maybe I needed to accept that Thomas was in his
sixties and then move on. Sure, it was weird to know how old he
was, but if Thomas didn't mind being around us then there was no
reason for me to dwell on his age.

"I guess that's true," I said.

Suddenly Charlie's eyes flared. "Oh, this
could be bad," he groaned.

I followed his gaze out the window, but
couldn't figure out what he saw.

"Thomas!" Charlie called. "Don't let him turn
around!"

To my surprise Thomas looked around for a
moment, then right at us. Charlie had raised his voice quite a bit,
but hadn't shouted. I couldn't believe Thomas could hear him.
Charlie pointed and Thomas glanced to the side, then nodded ever so
slightly. A guy walking by was the only thing Charlie could be
pointing at. Thomas said something to Dani and Dani started
rummaging in his bag. The guy walked by them without incident and
Charlie sighed in relief.

"Thanks!" he called. Thomas shrugged and
waved.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Kevin."

"Kevin? Oh!" The name clicked in my mind.
"The one Dani hit?"

Charlie blushed. "Actually...I'm the one who
hit him."

"What happened?"

"Let's just say that he's got a bit of a
flame for me and is of the opinion that what happens on the ship
stays on the ship. You can only ah...suggest how you're better than
a fire elemental's significant other so many times before his
temper flares. To be fair, I think it worked out better for Kevin
this way."

"How is a black eye better?"

"Because I guarantee if Danio had been there
Kevin would have ended up with worse than that." He laughed as he
said it, but I had a feeling he meant it.

"Do all elementals have problems controlling
their tempers?"

"Depends on the kind. Fire elementals...well,
we're the worst."

"What do you-" I cut off my question as a
couple of students sat down in the seat in front of us. This wasn't
the sort of conversation they could overhear.

Charlie flashed me an understanding grin.
"Excited for the trip?"

Even as I nodded, the bus started up. The
ride to the airport was similar to the one in Ecuador. Everyone on
the bus was on this trip and we all tried to figure out which
classes we shared and which trips we had been on. Beth, who seemed
to have completely recovered from being fed on by a vampire, was
with us. I couldn't help but wonder if he had bitten anyone else on
the bus. A thought occurred to me and I shivered.

"Charlie?" I whispered. I leaned closer to
his ear. I didn't want to be overheard, but my question couldn't
wait. "Will anyone he bit turn into a dhampir?"

"No. He..." Charlie sighed and looked
disturbed. "If he wanted to, he could turn them. But it won't
happen just from a bite."

"Do you think he will?" It had been one thing
seeing TS stake a stranger, I didn't think I could handle seeing
him stake another student.

"I hope not." His eyes slowed and darkened to
the smoldering coals I had started to associate with worry and
sorrow. "I really hope not."

We were silent for the rest of the ride. I
couldn't stop thinking about the vampire and wondering just how
much I still had to learn about magic. I wasn't sure what Charlie
was thinking, but I could tell from his eyes that the vampire
wasn't far from his mind either. We weren't able to sit next to
each other on the plane and I spent the flight looking out at the
Andes and the clouds. It was dark when we landed. Charlie and I sat
next to each other on the bus from the airport to the hotel. The
desert was unbelievably dark. The only man-made lights for what
looked like miles around were from the bus. The only other source
of light was coming from an incredible display of stars. We
unloaded at a restaurant in the town we were staying in and ate
dinner before walking a couple of blocks to the hotel. The town was
like something out of a history book. Every building was a low,
one-story clay structure. We walked down a street packed with
people and lined with shops that were all one long building with
doors cut in every few yards. The street was just sand and by the
time we stopped at our hotel I was coated in red dust from the
knees down. It was also freezing cold, so I was glad I had bundled
up. I picked up my key and suitcase, and then went in search of my
room. When I got there I found that Beth, my roommate for the trip,
was already there.

"We are going to be so cold," she said when I
entered. She pointed to a potbellied stove against one wall with a
large pile of wood next to it.

"I guess we start a fire."

It took us a while to get a nice, cozy fire
burning. The problem was we couldn't feel the heat from our beds.
Even worse was the two-inch gap under the door. I could hear the
wind whistling in and was sure I could feel it on my feet when I
took off my shoes. We were both dusty and sandy from the walk, but
when Beth went to shower we discovered that the water was so cold a
shower wasn't worth it. We changed into our pajamas and were still
so cold that we put our street clothes back on. We both woke up
shivering in the middle of the night and saw that the fire had died
down. It took us several minutes to get it burning again. I pulled
on an extra sweater and a hat before getting back in bed. Beth
raided the bathroom and added the towels to her bed. The second
time I woke up I had an idea.

"Beth?" I whispered. She didn't even
move.

I pulled my wand out of my purse and crept
over to the stove. After tossing some dry wood on it I aimed my
wand at it. "
Mar
," I hissed. A few sparks appeared and
quickly went out. It took a few tries before a sliver of wood
started to smolder. I wondered if I could affect an already
existing fire. I cast the spell again, but instead of trying to
make sparks I envisioned the little sparks getting bigger. A
triumphant grin spread across my face as it worked. The sparks grew
larger and brighter. After two more spells the wood had caught and
the fire was gaining strength. As I climbed back into bed it
occurred to me that casting the spells had made me tired enough
that I'd probably sleep through the rest of the night, even if the
fire went out again.

It was still dark out when we woke up. We
bundled up before walking down to the dining room. Everyone we met
on the way commented on how cold it was. Our breakfast was nothing
but a single roll with a lump of butter and I was still feeling
hungry when I got on the bus.

"Hungry?" Charlie asked me with a grin. He
opened his backpack to reveal the roll he hadn't eaten.

"Yeah." I hesitated. "Aren't you?"

"Already ate," he said with a wink. He
lowered his voice and added, "There's really nice, dry wood
here."

"If you're sure." I reached for the roll, but
he held it away.

"Hang on." He tore the roll open and dropped
a lump of butter in. He held it for a few seconds and then handed
it to me.

I laughed in amazement; the roll was hot and
the butter had melted. "Oh wow, thank you!"

"No problem."

Our first stop of the day was a large salt
flat nearby. When we arrived we got off the bus and followed the
guide on foot along a path. Our guide talked about the history of
the salt flats and pointed out flamingos and other birds as we
walked. By the time we were free to wander on our own it had
started to warm up. I was considering taking off my jacket when I
thought of Charlie and his need to stay warm. I couldn't believe I
hadn't thought of it before! He could have been freezing all night
and I had been more worried about myself.

"Are you alright?"

He lowered the binoculars he had been using
and looked at me in surprise. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"It was so unbelievably cold last night, not
to mention most of this morning," I said softly.

"Ah. I'm fine, thanks for worrying though.
I'm my own personal heater. It's also so dry here that the cold
doesn't make a difference. It's easier to keep a fire going on a
freezing night than in the rain, right?"

I nodded.

"I'm used to New York weather and it's a lot
wetter there, so this doesn't bother me too much. Plus, if I do
start to get cold I can warm myself up. But, like when you use
magic, it's tiring after a while. So, I'm only doing it when I'm
cold."

He raised his binoculars again and made an
odd series of hissing sounds as he scanned the horizon. It reminded
me of Dani humming to himself and I wondered if there was a fire
elemental language too. "Ah-ha!" he said before I could ask. He
moved his head back, keeping the binoculars still. "Check this
out."

I looked through them and saw nothing. "What
am I looking for?"

"A salamander."

"What?" I pulled back and glared at him. "How
am I going to see a salamander from this far away?"

Charlie wrinkled his nose. "I don't mean the
little slimy, nasty kind. I mean a salamander. Fire creature."

I looked through the binoculars again. I
slowly focused in and out with them and suddenly I saw a large rock
stand up. It was redder than the surrounding rocks and shaped like
a giant lizard. It yawned and I saw a small plume of smoke rise out
of it's' mouth. It lumbered a few feet and then settled back
down.

"Wow," I breathed. "How big is it?"

"Full grown they get around thirty feet,"
Charlie said. "They usually live near volcanoes and I can sense a
semi-active one over there. He'll probably sun himself until late
afternoon, then head back in."

I laughed and handed him back the binoculars.
As we got back on the bus, I couldn't help but smile. When my life
wasn't in immediate jeopardy from a vampire, being a witch was
getting really, really amazing. The rest of the day wasn't very
magical, but exciting nonetheless. We spent most of the afternoon
in a museum, ate dinner in a restaurant with a bonfire in the
middle, and spent the evening shopping in town. I was heading back
to my room for bed when Charlie stopped me outside of mine.

"I talked to this guy who got a single room,"
Charlie said with a smirk. "Told him I was worried my roommate
isn't comfortable with my ah...preferences. So, now I have the
single. Care to join me?"

I frowned, wondering why he was offering to
share a room. "Are we in danger?"

"No, nothing like that. Just thought you
might want to have a warmer night."

"Warmer? Done!"

Charlie laughed. "Room Eight. Come on
whenever."

I grabbed my stuff out of my room as fast as
I could. "I'm switching rooms," I said to Beth. "You can take the
blanket from my bed if you want, I won't be back."

She shrugged, probably happy to get the extra
blanket. "Fine by me."

Room Eight felt a good twenty degrees warmer
than my old room had. Charlie had a nice fire going in the stove
and to my surprise was sitting happily inside a huge one in the
middle of the room! He waved.

"Hey, Jen."

"I take it that doesn't hurt."

He stood and yawned. The fire died down until
it was just licking at his knees. "Figured I'd burn myself out,
rather literally, before bed. The warmer this place gets now the
less I'll have to worry about heating it later."

I nodded and laughed in disbelief. I put my
things down on the nearby bed and then examined my clothes. I was
coated from head to toe with red, sand. I was pretty sure that it
was caked in my hair and I had probably eaten some too.

"I need a shower," I groaned.

"Go for it," Charlie said.

"The water was freezing last night."

He walked into the bathroom and contemplated
the shower for a moment. "This might strike you as slightly
awkward," he began, "but if you really want to shower...well, just
remember that I don't like girls. And I'll keep my eyes
closed."

With that, a large ball of flame burst into
life on his hand. He held it up and I could actually see it growing
brighter and hotter. He turned the water on, then reached his other
hand up and wrapped it around the pipe sticking out of the wall
behind the showerhead.

"Enjoy," he said and closed his eyes.

"If you say so," I said skeptically.

I undressed quickly and to my surprise, he
had already warmed up the room. I stuck a hand under the water. It
was hot! In fact, it was almost too hot.

"Whoa!" I gasped.

"Not hot enough? Too hot?" Charlie asked,
eyes still closed tightly.

"Little hot, but that's fine, I've been cold
all day." I quickly jumped in and started rinsing off the sand.
"What exactly are you doing?" I asked. "Heating the water?"

"Actually, I'm making the pipe so hot that
the water is hot when it comes out."

"Wow."

After a quick shower, I grabbed a towel and
let Charlie escape. He dropped the ball of flame onto the back of
the toilet and gave me some privacy.

As I dried off I noticed that the flame was
getting smaller. "Is this going to go out on it's own?"